"Amid talk of a prisoner swap involving detainees held by the SLA, Ranwa Yehia speaks to parents desperate for the return of two sons

Toufiq Kalakesh remembers vividly the last time he saw his eldest son Adel. It was on June 3, 1993, in the occupied village of Dibbeen, Marjeyoun.

The young man, who is now 36, was abducted by fighters of the South Lebanon Army*. “I was standing on the balcony when it happened. I rushed down to shout at the men. They said they were following orders and Adel told me it was okay. That was the last I saw of him.”

He was taken to the Khiam detention center where his younger brother Riad, now 31, had been held since 1986 when he was seized during a visit to his grandparents in the village of Shaqra, Bint Jbeil.

70-year-old Toufiq Kalakesh, a retired electrician, insists that neither of his sons were members of a political party. He and his wife Noha now live in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Although the families of detainees have been allowed to visit relatives at Khiam since 1995, it was only last week that Kalakesh agreed to go with his wife to see their sons. He had refused his visitation rights previously because he “just couldn’t handle it.”
About 150 Lebanese are held in Khiam detention center without trial.

“I only decided to go because my wife said Riad was very sick,” says Kalakesh. “I’ve heard how they treat prisoners and I didn’t want to see my sons in such conditions. I just don’t like going there.”

His wife, who has been visiting her sons on a regular basis, discreetly whispered that her husband did not have the heart or the courage to see his sons through a grille. “It’s too much for him,” she said.

The International Committee for the Red Cross takes families to Khiam every three months. A grille separates the visitors from their detained relatives, forcing them to stand several meters away.

Visits are monitored by the SLA and detainees rarely speak of their experience inside. But released detainees frequently tell of barbaric treatment.

Reports issued by Amnesty International indicate that detainees in "Israeli" prisons and in Khiam are subjected to flogging, electrocution, beatings. This week there have been reports of negotiations to exchange prisoners in Khiam for SLA men held by Hizbullah.

When Kalakesh and his wife stood behind the grille expecting to see their two sons, only Adel was there. “Adel said Riad couldn’t come because he was sick but I begged the SLA to bring him because I came all the way to see him and I haven’t seen him in 13 years,” Kalakesh said.

One of the two SLA soldiers conceded, and withdrew to fetch the sick detainee.

“A few minutes later, I heard a thump and the soldier came from behind the door telling me Riad fell before he could make it out and was too sick to walk. I felt my heart was burning,” said Kalakesh, his voice faltering.

Noha Kalakesh said Riad suffered from seizures, asthma and eye infections. She said he must have had a stroke because the left side of his face was distorted and he couldn’t talk properly.

She says she does not want to see him the next time she goes to Khiam.

“Seeing us makes him more tired. Adel told me last week that Riad was extremely tired for two days after I saw him three months ago, and he’s getting worse every time,” she said.

Adel and Riad are the couples’ only male children. “I wish they had children, I would have seen my sons through my grandchildren,” Kalakesh said, recounting the tragic experience of Adel’s wife, Mona Ashour, in 1993.

Mona was two months pregnant when she was detained and put in Khiam, a week after her husband was captured.

She had a miscarriage because of the torture she was subjected to and was released exactly a year later. She remains faithful to her husband, awaiting his return.